You have strategized, planned, designed, developed, tested, and now it is finally time to launch your shiny new application. However, as anybody who is ever promoted an application can confirm, it can be incredibly exciting and equally challenging as well. Almost 20% applications fail as they aren't even seen or searched by the users. It does not mean that those failed applications are bad, but due to falling into a pit, they just could not pull themselves out. You worked hard building your application, but that is only half the battle. Getting people to utilize it is the other half. You owe it to yourself to be just as committed to getting people to use it as you were building it.

Pre-Launch App Marketing Pitfalls

Failing to achieve critical mass quickly during a launch can be extremely detrimental to a new mobile app development companies. As there are thousands of applications launched on the market every day, you can analyze and learn from the mistakes made by other publishers. One of the crucial elements in a successful application launch is the marketing campaign. There are three scenarios where certain things need to be considered- before, after, and during the application launch.

Before Launch

Not Picking the Right Platform: In an ideal world, with numerous resources, you would launch on both iOS and Android at the same time with a fully featured native app. In reality, you will need to consider which platform to launch on first, and each has their own set of advantages and disadvantages. Android is currently the market leader in terms of adoption and retention, but iOS apps are more profitable. Hence, if your monetization strategy is dependent on in-app purchases or paid-for apps, then iOS might be your best bet. Moreover, you can also choose multiple platforms for your application, but it will extend your development time and cost, and will delay entry into the market. Therefore, it is important to think about timeline and priorities before selecting platform(s).

Avoiding Beta Testing: If you want really honest and accurate opinions about your application, then beta testing will help you out. Finding the right group of end users is important to test your final application. You can do a public beta launch which is open to everyone to grab more impressions, or you can do a private beta launch where only invited users can use and test your application. Nevertheless, reaching up your beta users can sometimes be difficult so you can use a tool like TestFlight to streamline the process. Beyond beta testing, you can also perform load, security, network, and stress testing on the application.

During Launch

Failing to Determine What Is Working and What Is Not: The primary goal is here to check how users are actually interacting with your application. Based on analysis, you will find which features users are responding to most and what functionality still needs improvement. Mobile app development firms also want to keep a close eye on the performance of the application as it is being used during the launch. A new user who stumbles upon a bottleneck might never return to your app, so it is mandatory to check the application continuously for errors, bugs, and network latency.

Not Taking Time for App Store Optimization (ASO): ASO does not require any special budget and you should not ignore it for the sake of your application’s success. However, frequently optimizing keywords and using strong insights to measure your results not only helps you calibrate your expectations, but can also help you respond to changes in ranking in a timely, proactive manner. With organic traffic making up as much as half of your app store traffic, why would you want to jeopardize not optimizing this channel?

Poor Content Marketing: Also, a great way to build your app’s market is to get people talking about it. Identify communities and websites that your target users are following closely. Use the opportunity to launch sneak peeks of your app, videos of its features, and information that will create a sense of curiosity in them.

Post Launch

Ignoring Analysis of Reviews and Ratings: Positive and negative reviews both are good for your application. Positive reviews mean users are liking and appreciating your application. On the other hand, unhappy and complaining users post negative reviews, but these negative reviews are extremely important as you come to know the problems users are facing while using your application. Some users also provide suggestions, like what new features can be added.

Bad Customer Support: Your app could have thousands of users, but in a competitive market, every user must be handled with care. A good customer care service is a powerful tool for any marketer. If you don’t pay attention to your users, it will badly harm your business. Even though this feature is now available to all developers, not everyone is using it to provide timely support to customers.

Avoiding common app launch mistakes can help you be more prepared when it’s time to get your application out there, build awareness, and leverage momentum to drive downloads.